Proteomic approaches have been considerably improved during the past decade and have
been used to investigate the differences in protein expression profiles of cells grown
under a broad spectrum of growth conditions and with different stress factors including
antibiotics.
In Europe, the most significant disease threat remains the presence of microorganisms that
have become resistant to antimicrobials and so it is important that different scientific tools
are combined to achieve the largest amount of knowledge in this area of expertise. The
emergence and spread of the antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative pathogens, such as
Escherichia coli, can lead to serious problem public health in humans. E. coli, a very well
described prokaryote, has served as a model organism for several biological and biotechnological
studies increasingly so since the completion of the E. coli genome-sequencing
project. The purpose of this review is to present an overview of the different proteomic
approaches to antimicrobial-resistant E. coli that will be helpful to obtain a better knowledge
of the antibiotic-resistant mechanism(s). This can also aid to understand the molecular
determinants involved with pathogenesis, which is essential for the development of effective
strategies to combat infection and to reveal new therapeutic targets. This article is part
of a Special Issue entitled: Proteomics: The clinical link.